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UN conference: Reducing economic losses from disasters has little hope… Airline black boxes may be fitted with parachutes… Investing in cybersecurity can accelerate business growth…

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UN conference: Reducing economic losses from disasters has little hope
Economic losses from disasters are currently $240 billion a year but there is little prospect of reducing that. That’s a finding of the preliminary results of a catastrophe modeling study presented at the UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction. Dr. Milan Simic, Senior Vice President of AIR Worldwide told delegates: “It is next to impossible to reduce existing levels of economic losses but that they provide a baseline and a context for improving on key areas of development over the lifetime of the new framework for disaster risk reduction which hopefully will be adopted tomorrow.” In response Jerry Velasquez, UNISDR’s Chief of Advocacy said that the way we do development needs to be addressed to improve the situation: “Development drivers are stronger drivers of the increase of risks than hazards themselves. In order to limit economic losses in the future, we need to improve urban planning and make economic growth resilient.” The UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction is taking place this week in Sendai, Japan.
 
Airline black boxes may be fitted with parachutes
The airline industry is acting on lessons learned from the Malaysian MH370 disaster by working to improve access to the black box flight recorders which are vital to the investigation process. Chinese news agency Xinhua reports that among the innovations being tested are a floating black box, currently being developed by Europe’s Airbus; and a black box fitted with a parachute, which is an option being considered by Chinese firm Comac and its US subsidiary. Some of the technology being tested is already in use by the military but would need some adaption for commercial airlines.
 
Investing in cybersecurity can accelerate business growth
A study has discovered a link between financial performance and the ability to deal with cyber attacks. Research for Blue Coat Systems carried out by Vanson Bourne across 11 countries found that those firms that put cybersecurity as a priority are better placed for risk taking and developing new ideas. Globally risk-taking was viewed as having a positive impact on business growth by 66 per cent of respondents but 62 per cent say that concerns over cyber threats are holding them back. In businesses with more than 20 per cent growth 93 per cent said investing in cybersecurity was a priority. 
 

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